[BLT5103]

Today I drove a short distance from my house to the girlfriends place. I spent about 1 minute in the car(yes she lives that close!) I let the car warm about one minute before I arrived at her house. When we got ready to get into the car I noticed water puddling in front of the right rear tire, which at first glanced looked like some dog peed on my tire. But this was not the case as the water was clear did not taste like urine,lol and was running from under the car. So I looked under the car and found water dripping from what appeared to be the back of the muffler, that part towards the rear end of the car.
Anybody else see this, is it coming from the muffler. I know this must be condensation (a good bit as I bet there were 3 tablespoons on the ground)but where is it exiting?

I think I read a thread on here once about our mufflers having a flap or trap door that opens under hard acceleration, helps with the sound ect. Is it possible that the condensation was dripping out of the flap/trap door if it exists?

Anybody else experience this? A good explanation may save me from a trip under the car for a closer inspection!

 

[Cochese]

Yes, I have experienced this.
No big deal...this a normal part of the
combustion/exhaust process.
I cannot explain it to you but I think it is OK.

If you look on the underside of the tail
pipes you will notice a small hole at the
very end of the tail pipe. This is for the
water drain, as I understand it.

Maybe someone who knows about internal
combustion engines and catalytic converters
can pipe in.

I think you are good to go.

 

[TwoStangWmn]

Same thing here. I got the same explanation that PY gave--about the little holes. Not to worry....

 

[Bushmaster]

It's condensation from the heat in the exhaust and the cooling of the system the night before. Moisture in the air condenses inside your pipes and gets blown out the back. That's why if you don't drive it till the exhaust system gets fully heated, the condensation won't get "burned" out of the system by the exhaust heat and will rust out the system a lot sooner.

 

[BLT5103]

Thanks for the responses. I suspected it was condensation, yet surprised by the amount.

 

[Cochese]

Bushmaster, so should we let the water get
blown out the pipes before driving to avoid
the rust problem? I don't think I am reading
your post correctly.

 

[Bushmaster]

Exactly.....it's always a good idea to let everything get up to operating temperature before shutting it down. Little five and ten minute trips are not very good for a car's long-term health.

 

[TwoStangWmn]

That worries me just a little. This spring I get my 69 back with bran new paint and the Bullitt doesn't have 1 door ding or scratch on it yet. I plan on driving one of them to work and back. My work is only 2 miles away and I go home for my lunch hour. The heater hasn't had time to warm up by then. I have been driving the 69 to work and back for a few years now and no problem. We just make sure that we take her on the freeway every now and then to "burn it out". hummmmmmm

 

[Bulittt]

If you need any help burning out the '69 or Bullitt..... let me know. I think I can safely say the water would no longer be a problem.... nor any carbon build up either.

 

[retromuscle]

Guys and gals,

One more thing regarding water in the exhaust pipes... Water is a by-product of burning gasoline. If I remember correctly (from my days "interning" at the Mobil refinery) for every one gallon of gas you burn you are supposed to get one gallon of water as a by-product. Of course, this is under "ideal" circumstances (which we all know don't exist in the real world, only for scientific calculations :grin: ). In the real world you get HCs (HydroCarbons), C02 (Carbon Dioxide), and our dear friend CO (Carbon Monoxide) as well as a lot of water.

Next time you take a trip (longer than 30ish minutes), before you shut off your car, go put your hand behind the exhaust pipe...you'll feel the moisture in the gas.

Hope this helps clear up some of the mystery (magic? :wink: :grin: ).

 

[LesnTea]

Retromuscle is right, there is a LOT of moisture in the exhaust. It is very apartent in cold weather when you can see the steam just roll out of an exhaust.

 

[NJGreenBullitt]

First - I would think that water dripping near the middle or front of the car would be A/C condensation - even in cooler climates.

Second - was I putting too much faith in what I thought were our stainless steel exhaust systems?

My '90 Celica is still on factory mufflers/pipes that are all stainless. BTW - I also had 2 Volvos that were inclined to need mufflers with the frequency of oil changes!!!!!

 

[DHG312]

Let's clear this all up! I was in Jersey on vacation, I saw your girl, she's gorgeous, I saw your Bullitt, it's gorgeous, I'm jealous and p*ssED, and straight from the hip, I pee'd on your car......no mystery.....I pee'd on it!!!! :grin:

 

[RELOAD68]

I wonder if the moisture is staying in the cylinders overnight. Maybe that is why we are getting the knocking in the engine. Water is not compressable. In the morning, when revving above 3K the valve springs probably cannot take the compression, so they will be pushed open during compression. So, the valves are making the rattle or knocking noise. And now some of us are getting the rattle even when the car is warm because the valve springs maybe going bad.
Well, that is what I think. I can't imagine what kind of fix ford will come up with. I guess for now just shift at 2300rpms and wait. Does this explaination sound reasonable?

 

[Bushmaster]

No, water wouldn't be getting in the cylinders in the first place.
Personally, I'd like to see the Ford management issue (mail) a bulletin to all 4.6 owners, explaining the situation in detail, but in terminology that a non-engineer could understand, assure the owners that there is no detrimental effect to the long-term life of the engine (IF that is the case) and agree to fully compensate any owners who do have problems associated with this engine noise.
Given the economic health of FoMoCo at the moment, I sure don't expect this.....they just posted their first losing quarter in nine years.

 

[BLT5103]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2002-01-16 19:18, DHG312 wrote:
Let's clear this all up! I was in Jersey on vacation, I saw your girl, she's gorgeous, I saw your Bullitt, it's gorgeous, I'm jealous and p*ssED, and straight from the hip, I pee'd on your car......no mystery.....I pee'd on it!!!! :grin:
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

LOL!

BTW my girl said she wants her dress cleaned before you return it to her, ya know the one you wore while peeing on my tire! :smile:

 

[Jimmy Ray]

Haaaaaaaa Haaaaaaaa

 

[1 Bullitt]

Part of the water you are talking is mostly a chemical reaction in the catalytic converter,the gases break down which in turn turns into water,I read this in a magazine and if you havent noticed all cars with converters do this,theres more have you ever heard of a cat. converter clogging up and getting cherry red and even making your car catch on fire, this is from the chemicals inside getting hard,but its been a long time since i read this talk to a good muffler man and i bet he could tell you.

 

[1 Bullitt]

About what bushmaster said about fords third qtr. loss,remember this when a car co. tells you they had a loss that means they were planning on making 10 billion dollars last qtr. But if profits were only 4 billion they call that a loss, please dont lose any sleep even if there are losses the big bosses STILL GET there million dollar xmas bonus.

 

[DHG312]

Touche! Nice one 5103! That actually generated a good deep laugh as I didn't see that one coming. I had to give you a hard time to support my experiences. Several years ago during my senior year at college, the boys from the fraternity and I ventured down to Cancun, partied w/many girls and ran into some guys in our hotel from "Joisy!" They were hilarious and friendly. We told them our impression of Yankees is one of rudeness, 100 MPH always and shortcuts! They laughed and then called us "Hicks" and life went on. You just proved what they said, "Yankees are nice to hicks always, we like to have fun with their slow asses!" Tehy bought us all a beer, and we all went home with some girls in our hotel! Can't tell the rest...but I sure did get [email protected]#%&* for once!